The information presented in this editorial is accurate as of the posting date.
Disney Plus and Netflix are video streaming services that provide viewers with extensive libraries of on-demand movies and TV shows to watch. Disney+ is one of the most recent services to enter the busy streaming market, only launching in November 2019. It provides content from divisions across the Disney family, such as 20th Century Fox, Marvel, National Geographic, and Star Wars. The service has even started commissioning original programming.
Netflix is one of the original online entertainment services — it launched its streaming offering back in 2007. In addition to a vast content library, it specializes in creating original movies and TV shows.
Plans and pricing for Disney Plus vs. Netflix
| Disney+ | Netflix | |
| Monthly price | $7.99 | $9.99 (basic, ad-free) |
| Free trial length | 7 days | N/A |
| Number of titles | 949 | 5381 |
| Original content available? | Yes | Yes |
| Live streaming available? | No | No |
| Simultaneous streams | 4 | 1 |
| Ad-supported? | No | No |
| Free trial length | 7 days | N/A |
Despite being relatively new to the market, Disney+ has a sizable content library that includes 752 movies and 197 TV shows. Netflix also offers subscribers a huge amount of content, with over 3,500 movies and over 1,600 TV shows.
The two services offer similar price points, but Disney comes in at $1/mo. cheaper than Netflix’s Basic service. Disney+ offers an annual subscription for $79.99, but Netflix only has month-to-month plans. Disney+ subscribers can also bundle the service with Hulu and ESPN+ for $13.99/mo.
Netflix users can upgrade from the Basic plan to Standard, which unlocks high-definition (HD) video quality and an additional stream for $15.49/mo., or to Premium, which provides 4K streaming and 4 simultaneous streams for $19.99/mo.
Comparing the Disney Plus vs. Netflix experience
User experience
Disney plus and Netflix are both available through various interfaces across a wide range of devices. Both services offer similar designs, with content laid out in rows and sorted into categories that simplify the task of finding new movies and shows to watch. They also use subscribers’ viewing history to recommend new content to them.
Disney+ organizes its programming into the big five brands that provide its content: Disney, Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar, and Star Wars. It also offers curated categories and helps viewers find content within genres like Action/Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Documentary, and Drama. Netflix’s user-friendly interface allows subscribers to sort content by movies, TV shows, and genres. They can also select from curated categories.
Disney+ can be streamed in web browsers and through apps for mobile phones and tablets, gaming consoles, and streaming devices. Compatible devices include:
- Amazon Fire tablets
- Amazon Fire TV
- Android phones and tablets
- Android TV
- Apple iPhone and iPad
- Apple TV
- Google Chromecast
- LG and Samsung Smart TVs
- PlayStation 4
- Web browsers on Google Chrome OS, Mac OS, and Windows PC
- Xbox One
Netflix is available to watch on popular web browsers, mobile phones and tablets, gaming consoles, and streaming systems that support its apps. These include:
- Amazon Fire Stick
- Amazon Fire TV
- Android phones and tablets
- Android TV
- Apple phones and tablets
- Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox web browsers
- Apple TV
- Funai, Magnavox, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, and Toshiba Blu-ray players
- Google Chromecast
- Hi-Sense, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, and Vizio Smart TVs
- Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo WiiU
- Nvidia Shield
- PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4
- Roku
- Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Personalization
Disney+ users can create up to 7 customized profiles per account. Netflix, on the other hand, offers 5. Both services also provide parental controls for users to manage the content available on their account. Disney+ has a Kids Mode that allows users to restrict viewing by age groups G, TV-Y, TV-Y7/Y7-FV, or TV-G. Netflix subscribers can limit the content available to TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, and TV-PG. They can also turn on Netflix Kids Experience, which offers a basic interface and prevents access to account settings.
Features
Disney Plus and Netflix subscribers can enjoy commercial-free programming. They can also download content to their mobile devices to watch offline. How much content users can download depends on the amount of storage space available on their device.
Disney+ enables users to register up to 10 devices on their account and watch on a maximum of 4 simultaneous streams. Netflix’s basic plan provides 1 stream, which can be doubled to 2 by upgrading to the Standard plan. Netflix’s Premium plan provides 4.
Disney Plus vs. Netflix content
Disney and Netflix both offer vast content libraries that will keep even the most avid streamer spoiled for choice.
Disney Plus
Movies on Disney Plus
Disney Plus offers superhero action aplenty — it’s home to the vast majority of Marvel movies, including Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, and The Avengers. Science fiction fans are also well served by Disney+ being home to the entire Star Wars franchise, including the most recent releases Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.
Of course, Disney+ is also home to classic animated movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, Pinocchio, and The Jungle Book. And it offers plenty of Pixar entertainment such as Cars, all four installments of the Toy Story franchise, and Wall-E.
Other movies worth a watch include the visually appealing Avatar and Nicholas Cage playing a historian and treasure hunter in National Treasure. While those in search of a classic Disney movie can look to Home Alone, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, Mary Poppins, The Mighty Ducks, and The Sound of Music.
Shows on Disney Plus
When it comes to TV shows, Disney+ is home to tons of early episodes of The Simpsons. It also has several Marvel series, such as Agents of SHIELD, Inhumans, and Runaways, as well as classic kids’ shows like Doug, DuckTales, Mickey Mouse, and The Muppets.
Disney+ has released a handful of original shows since launching in November. These include comedy Diary of a Future President, mockumentary series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and Star Wars series The Mandalorian. It also has several docuseries, including Marvel’s Hero Project and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
Netflix
Original Content on Netflix
Netflix offers a sizeable content library, but the big appeal of the service is the quality of its original programming. Its original movies include Roma, for which Netflix became the first video streaming service to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Other leading Netflix movies are Breaking Bad: El Camino, Martin Scorsese’s star-studded gangster epic The Irishman, and Golden Globe-nominated Dolemite Is My Name.
Netflix has an excellent selection of high-quality original shows, such as Ricky Gervais starring in After Life, Breaking Bad, political thriller House of Cards, prison-based drama Orange Is the New Black, and science-fiction horror series Stranger Things. And it’s home to high-quality crime documentaries like Making A Murderer, The Staircase, and recent cult hit Tiger King.
Movies on Netflix
The best movies on Netflix include classic hits like Bad Boys, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Other options include Gangs of New York and Inception, which both star Leonardo di Caprio. The service is also home to Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, and Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the police investigation comedy The Other Guys.
Star Wars fans can also watch Solo: A Star Wars Story on Netflix and there’s superhero action in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War, and The Green Hornet. Horror fans are also well-served by Sinister, The Ring, and The Vatican Tapes.
Shows on Netflix
Netflix’s high-quality lineup of TV shows includes hit zombie apocalypse series The Walking Dead, Paul Bettany and Sam Worthington starring in police drama Manhunt: Unabomber, and Aaron Sorkin’s political thriller The West Wing. Netflix also has a wide range of popular comedies such as Community, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, and The Office (US).
The final cut
Disney+ and Netflix offer large libraries of top quality movies and TV shows that provide great options for people interested in cutting the cable cord. Disney+ is a relative newcomer to the market but offers a strong lineup of content that will particularly appeal to Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney fans. While Netflix offers a wider range of Hollywood movies, popular TV shows, and its own award-winning original content.
Of these two services, only Disney+ offers a free trial. The service can be watched for free for seven days.